NATO Response Force activated in Europe

For the first time in history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the alliance is mobilizing a military response force as a defense against Russia’s military aggression in Eastern Europe. The troops will not enter Ukraine’s borders but are on high alert to repel any potential Russian incursions in NATO-allied countries. At a Friday Pentagon briefing, Press Secretary John Kirby said some of the 7,000 U.S. troops newly deployed to Europe will join the NATO Response Force. The first official military aid to Ukraine came on Thursday, when Poland shipped a convoy of ammunition to Ukrainian troops. Meanwhile, the European Union, Britain, Canada, and the United States sanctioned top Russian leaders on Friday, including President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, by freezing their assets. President Joe Biden held a 40-minute phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, and Kirby said the United States is working on providing Ukraine with “additional security assistance.”

What is happening in Ukraine? Intense battles have erupted across the country as Russian troops move to encircle the capital city of Kyiv. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its forces had blocked off the cities of Sumy and Konotop to the east. U.S. intelligence reported an amphibious assault underway near Mariupol in the southeast on Friday.  Shelling has torn through apartment buildings and schools, not just military targets. Zelenskyy remains in Kyiv and said he will stay to fight. He offered to meet with the Kremlin for talks, but Putin denounced the Ukrainian leaders as “drug addicts” and “neo-Nazis”—even though Zelenskyy is Jewish—and urged the military to surrender.

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